Okay, let me just say that this game is AWESOME. Definitely one of the best games ever made EVAR. Period. End of story. If I had to rate this game out of ten...I would give it 11.
The main reason it took me almost a year to beat was because I am a procrastinator of the nth degree. I spent almost half of my 40+ hours of the game just collecting cooking ingredients, defeating minibosses, collecting every treasure, and just swimming around, having fun. That is what it boiled down to: Aquaria hit all the sweet spots; great graphics, great story, great music (more on that later), but most importantly of all, it was just a blast to play. With the possible exception of the Lobster Miniboss, each moment in Aquaria was one to be cherished.
Also, it contained lots of memorable moments for me, ones that will spoil me for other games. Some of the bosses and set pieces were absolutely astonishing, such as the slow motion camera when you jumped out of the water for the first time, or feeding poisoned zombies to a giant Mithala, or (how could I forget?) taking down a 10-story Creator with naught but a few forms and a boyfriend to merge with. All of these and more have stuck with me, and I sincerely hope that I will not forget them.
However, if you ask me, the real star of this game is the Music. Every piece of music sounds absolutely incredible, from the "getting pumped for a new adventure" sounds of the Open waters songs, to the high-intensity of Mithala's boss music, to the "One Final Push" sound of the final form of the Creator, each song perfectly suits the atmosphere it is played in, and even heightens it. The only soundtrack to even come CLOSE to rivaling Aquaria's would have to be the soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts 2 (a HUGE compliment from me).
I did do one thing, however. I used a Let's play on YouTube as a walkthrough for the bosses. So, I knew what to do ahead of time, so the tediousness of the game never once took hold of me. Also, I used the Strategy Wiki to find all the treasures (I found all of them while I was procrastinating.), so technically, I completed the game 100%.
Now that I'm done gushing praise, let's talk about the one thing that irritated me the most: the secret ending. Now, I'm all for secret endings, it gives me an incentive to explore every nook and cranny of a game to unlock it. But, I can't help but wonder if Mr. Holowka and Mr. Yu kind of missed the point of the secret ending, in that it is supposed to leave us feeling satisfied. However, the secret ending raised more questions than answers. Where did Mia take Naija? I already knew who Lucien was, but why were we never even given his name? Who was that girl sleeping? And IF the story continues, when will it? This is a serious reversal from other games, in that the ORIGINAL ending is the best one, and the SECRET ending ends on a cliffhanger.
Still, I guess if they had to include the cliffhanger to make sure there would be fans for the second time around, I can forgive that. Even with the somewhat bizarre secret ending, Aquaria is STILL a masterpiece, through and through. From the Triumphant Title screen to the Emotional Ending, I had more fun with Aquaria than any other game recently.
Conclusion: Aquaria is one of those games I want to take to those hags who say video games are bad for you, to the ones who write off gaming as mere child's play, to those who say games can't be art, and say to them, "This is how far we've come." It's intelligent, immersive, intuitive, and incredible.
AQUARIA. BEST. INDIE. GAME. EVAR.
Now, let's hope Marion is as good, if not better.
